Cameras, infrared sensors, compasses, weapons, and other devices can be mounted and used on a variety of supports. For example, moving vehicles, including various aircraft, watercraft, and ground vehicles, can provide versatile supports capable of transporting such devices. Many devices benefit from being easily and accurately pointed at a desired target. Gimbal systems can be used alone, or with gyroscopic stabilization, easily and accurately to point such devices without necessarily having to reorient the supports to which the devices are mounted.
Gimbal balls, as used herein, are any device-mounting mechanisms that include at least two different, typically mutually perpendicular, axes of rotation, thus providing angular movement in at least two directions. A gimbal ball can include one or more constituent gimbals, each of which can rotate relative to one or more other constituent gimbals and/or a supported payload. A gimbal ball also can include corresponding motors for rotating the various gimbals, control systems for controlling the various motors and/or payload components, gyroscopes for stabilizing the payload, as well as any other components used to aim and/or otherwise control the payload.